View full sizeA view of the Atlantic City skyline in 2010.John Munson/The Star-Ledger

TRENTON — For private transit companies, it would be like passing "Go."

Buses that regularly travel to the Atlantic City casinos would get a free ride on New Jersey’s toll roads under a bill that made its way through a Senate committee today.

The Senate Transportation Committee voted 4-1 to extend free passage on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway to companies that schedule at least one trip a week to the struggling Shore resort’s towering casinos.

"We already have buses that ride on the Turnpike … and are exempted from tolls," Sen. Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic) said. "And looking at that, quite frankly, some people say it creates a disparity between some buses that go to Atlantic City and buses that go to New York."

Buses with E-ZPass pay about $20 to travel one way on the Turnpike, Parkway and the Expressway from the Lincoln Tunnel to Atlantic City. Without E-ZPass, the toll is about $30.

Joe Tyrrell, a lobbyist for Caesar’s Entertainment, said the tolls put Atlantic City at a competitive disadvantage.

"We have to keep New Jersey competitive because these other gaming markets are letting people drive down Route 78 to go to Bethlehem without a toll," he said.

In addition, Thomas Feeney, a spokesman for the the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, said the agency was opposed because of concerns about the loss of revenue and whether a waiver would violate pledges to bond holders.

"The casino buses benefit from those improvements every bit as much as other drivers ... Why should they not have to help pay for it?" Feeney said.The bill is not Whelan’s first attempt to help bus companies that provide service to Atlantic City. In 2011, he and Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May) wanted to exempt out-of-state bus companies that makes trips to Atlantic City and other state tourist destinations from the corporate business tax. The bill passed the Senate but not the Assembly.

Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) was the only committee member to vote against Whelan’s bill today.

"When we have people that are struggling to go to work and have to pay those tolls, and you’re saying that bus load of people who are willing to lose their paychecks we’re going to give them a break, that doesn’t seem fair," he said.

Pennacchio suggested that casinos should reimburse bus companies for the tolls.

The legislation comes as Gov. Chris Christie is trying to revitalize Atlantic City. Casino revenue dropped for the sixth straight year in 2012, according to a state report released last week. The $3.05 billion the casinos took in was down 8 percent from 2011, and down from $5.2 billion in 2006.

Whelan said the bus bill is not a "cure all" for Atlantic City’s woes, but rather a "tool" that can encourage companies to schedule trips to Atlantic City instead of such neighboring states as Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut.

Trish Graber, a spokeswoman for the Senate Democrats, said the bill will go straight to the full Senate. It does not include an estimate of how much revenue state agencies would sacrifice by letting the buses ride free.

Although an identical bill has been introduced in the Assembly, its prospects are unclear. Tom Hester Jr., a spokesman for Assembly Democrats, said it "will be reviewed."